Told by MS that Non-Handicapped is not a valid room request

I have to agree with others that I haven't seen anything inappropriate in the comments on this thread.

I would certainly never advocate that Disney decrease the number of HA rooms they build, or not have accommodations available for those who need them. That's not what's being suggested here.

The solution to this entire issue is for Disney to make these rooms a true booking category in every sense. This would make it easier for those who need the rooms to book them. In cases where there are only HA rooms available, it isn't the last one to check in who gets it, it's the member who understood up front when they booked that they'd be in a HA room. Anyone who was forced to book a HA because it was the only available room should automatically have a waitlist generated to move them into a non-HA if it became available. That would free up the HA room for a late-booker with a special need.

In the meantime, I'll continue to ask that it be added as a request, and ask to be moved if one is assigned. Like the previous poster said, I'd never make a big deal out of it at the desk, but I do view it as a less desirable room when it isn't needed. It's less of an issue for us when we're in a studio as we don't have kids, and won't use a studio tub for baths. But in a one-bedroom or larger, we use the Jacuzzi very often and would be disppointed not to have it. It's become part of the vacation experience for us, since we don't have one at home.

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I don't think this should be an issue in the HA rooms. The 1BRs and larger should still have the separate tub---at least, I'm quite sure our HA 1BR at OKW had one, because we used it.

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The HA 1BR we were assigned at AKV Club level did not have any tub. It also lacked for storage: no shelves or cubbies under the sink, no hooks on the bathroom door for hanging robes, etc. It appeared as if the only requirement observed was to make everything reachable from a chair. There was no thought that the unit might have a mix of both walking and rolling occupants.

For us, working around the issues of the room became a chore, especially with respect to water all over the bathroom floor. We had towels everywhere trying to use them as levies (preventing the water from covering the entire bathroom) and too few places to hang them to dry. In short, we had ourselves a slip'n'fall risk on the wet tile!

On the bright side, I have moved AKV Club Level to the "been there, done that," column. Given the limited number of units and high odds of getting the HA unit, I never need to even think about booking Club again. Silver lining!

I don't think this should be an issue in the HA rooms. The 1BRs and larger should still have the separate tub---at least, I'm quite sure our HA 1BR at OKW had one, because we used it. The studios wouldn't have it either way.

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Two of the AKV Concierge 1BRs are HA. One of those two has a roll-in shower instead of a tub. So there is a 20% chance of getting a room without a whirlpool tub in you book an AKV Concierge 1BR. One of the main reasons we splurge and book a 1BR instead of a studio is to get a whirlpool tub so I would be unhappy to get that room. When we stayed AKV Concierge we booked a studio. I didn't want to pay extra for a 1BR because of the whirlpool tub and risk not getting it.

ETA: Room 5319 in Jambo House (Savanna View on the Kudu Trail facing Arusha) is the other 1BR in Jambo House that has a roll-in shower and no tub. This problem may be unique to Jambo House since the 1BRs there do not have a separate shower stall. There isn't room for both a roll-in shower and a tub so to put in the roll-in shower to make the room HA, the tub had to go.

Someone in a chair using the sink would need the space under the sink clear, at the very least. I suspect that's the reason for most of the differences.

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I agree about the space under the sink but why no shelves or cubby holes? There is a tiny shelf above the sink (that would probably not be easily accessible to someone in a wheelchair by the way) that could hold two or three small items (like deodorant or a tube of toothpaste) but that's it. There is plenty of space in that bathroom to put up some handy shelves at an accessible height. We ended up bringing in the little table from the balcony, cleaning it up and draping a towel over it so we could leave a few things in the bathroom.

As I said, I was disappointed to see how little effort was put into making that room "accessible".

I have to agree with others that I haven't seen anything inappropriate in the comments on this thread.

I would certainly never advocate that Disney decrease the number of HA rooms they build, or not have accommodations available for those who need them. That's not what's being suggested here.

The solution to this entire issue is for Disney to make these rooms a true booking category in every sense. This would make it easier for those who need the rooms to book them. In cases where there are only HA rooms available, it isn't the last one to check in who gets it, it's the member who understood up front when they booked that they'd be in a HA room. Anyone who was forced to book a HA because it was the only available room should automatically have a waitlist generated to move them into a non-HA if it became available. That would free up the HA room for a late-booker with a special need.In the meantime, I'll continue to ask that it be added as a request, and ask to be moved if one is assigned. Like the previous poster said, I'd never make a big deal out of it at the desk, but I do view it as a less desirable room when it isn't needed. It's less of an issue for us when we're in a studio as we don't have kids, and won't use a studio tub for baths. But in a one-bedroom or larger, we use the Jacuzzi very often and would be disppointed not to have it. It's become part of the vacation experience for us, since we don't have one at home.

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You beat me to it--exactly what I was thinking--although you probably worded it much better than I could have. Make it a booking category and the problem is solved

If they made it a booking category, that would just add yet another facet to the waitlist. Look at the "mess" at AKV already when it comes to a waitlist. Say you want ANY 2BR at AKV that comes available. Here are your options:

...there's 6, so if you want to waitlist BLT for ANY 2BR, you can only pick two. Your available inventory would decrease if all of the HA units were excluded because they'd be a separate category.

I agree that I would not want a HA villa, but if it came down to needing a waitlist to fill, I would take it. I'm on the WL right now for a 2BR at HHI. I certainly don't want a HA unit, but if that's what fills my WL, then so be it.

I guess I don't see why the "non-HA" request is such a big deal for MS. They can handle the other requests such as "close to elevator/lobby" or "high-floor"...why is non-HA such an issue?

If they made it a booking category, that would just add yet another facet to the waitlist. Look at the "mess" at AKV already when it comes to a waitlist. Say you want ANY 2BR at AKV that comes available. Here are your options:

...there's 6, so if you want to waitlist BLT for ANY 2BR, you can only pick two. Your available inventory would decrease if all of the HA units were excluded because they'd be a separate category.

I agree that I would not want a HA villa, but if it came down to needing a waitlist to fill, I would take it. I'm on the WL right now for a 2BR at HHI. I certainly don't want a HA unit, but if that's what fills my WL, then so be it.

I guess I don't see why the "non-HA" request is such a big deal for MS. They can handle the other requests such as "close to elevator/lobby" or "high-floor"...why is non-HA such an issue?

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Maybe but not necessarily. I was already going to post when I got home that if they mad HC a separate category, they'd likely remove some of the other designations. Likely no more dedicated vs lockoff option for the 2 BR choice. It makes booking them easier, booking to not get HC easier and tells those that book a HC because that's all that's available, what they have so they can make the choice. They really have to manage the inventory separately anyway. There's no reason they can't change the wait list limitations and they really should change them just for the example you gave.

Maybe but not necessarily. I was already going to post when I got home that if they mad HC a separate category, they'd likely remove some of the other designations. Likely no more dedicated vs lockoff option for the 2 BR choice. It makes booking them easier, booking to not get HC easier and tells those that book a HC because that's all that's available, what they have so they can make the choice. They really have to manage the inventory separately anyway. There's no reason they can't change the wait list limitations and they really should change them just for the example you gave.

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I agree. The pendulum swung much too far when they changed the waitlist rules. "Any two bedroom" or even something more complex like "Any one bedroom or smaller" should be a valid waitlist.

A request is still a request, and if HA isn't a booking category, it's still going to be the family with the latest flight into Orlando that gets that room when the supply exceeds the number of bookings for which there's a need.

If they made it a booking category, that would just add yet another facet to the waitlist. Look at the "mess" at AKV already when it comes to a waitlist. Say you want ANY 2BR at AKV that comes available. Here are your options:

Throw HA into the mix and now there are SIXTEEN options...still can only pick two.

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It gets more complicated when you consider there are two types of HA rooms, those with roll-in showers and those without them. Someone who needs a roll-in shower needs to be able to reserve (or waitlist for) that type of HA room.

It gets more complicated when you consider there are two types of HA rooms, those with roll-in showers and those without them. Someone who needs a roll-in shower needs to be able to reserve (or waitlist for) that type of HA room.

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They reality is that they have already had to make them separate booking categories internally. Really the only differences, as I see it, are that they have to translate that info to the resorts and members who reserved and make it part of the unit assignment process as well. I realize that's still a significant task but in reality, essentially everything we're discussing on this thread is already being done by MS, it's just not transparent to the members.

This sounds like it may be crap, as they do not assign rooms according to when they were booked.

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I agree.

One has to ask HOW would a MS CM know the specifics of how rooms are assigned?

When we were given the unwanted, unneeded, desperately inconvenient Accessible room at Jambo Dec '10, we had booked it a full 7 months ahead of time, and I'm pretty sure there were other bookings after ours. The difference is that we had spent nearly all day over at Universal on our checkin day and had not done online checkin (as we had done for the other aspects of our extremely split stay), and we were checking in rather late in the day. It's all they had left.

After dinner when I finally LOOKED at the room and realized there was no tub for my weary and incredibly painful self, and when DH went downstairs to talk about a room change, he was NOT the only one in line for the exact same thing. Our son was 6 at the time and *would* take a shower, but many children that age won't. The tub was TRULY needed for me, or I wasn't going to be able to move that next day. It was late in our stay and the only reason I was still moving was because of the epsom salts baths.

I literally and pathetically cried myself to sleep that night. And we couldn't do anything that next day, while waiting for our non-accessible room, because walking was a big problem for me.

For those of you who need these rooms realize that the whining represents a vocal minority. Sorry

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YOu are seriously hearing all of this in the entirely wrong way. Saying that we don't want an accessible room doesn't mean "I hate all people who need those rooms". On one big hand it means "I want those rooms left open for people who NEED those rooms". On the other main hand it means "rooms that are made accessible create problems for those of us with *different needs*.

While sitting around Jambo that day, I met an adult mother and daughter who had booked hotel rooms there. They had asked for and gotten an HA room because they had wheelchairs or ECVs, and figured it would be appropriate. It was not. They had ONE bed. For a mother and daughter. They found it incredibly uncomfortable, and wished they hadn't asked for an HA room. They thought it would be useful for the storage of their mobility devices, but it was much more appropriate for people who were "confined" to those devices; they were not, so it wasn't appropriate.

I don't think this should be an issue in the HA rooms. The 1BRs and larger should still have the separate tub---at least, I'm quite sure our HA 1BR at OKW had one, because we used it. The studios wouldn't have it either way.

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Our one-bedroom at Jambo did NOT have the tub at all.

On our next WDW trip we checked into OKW, and in a weird moment the CM pulled the online checkin folder of someone whose first name is my last name. His room was ready; our assigned room was not. I told the CM it wasn't a problem, but the CM insisted on giving us that guest's room. Which turned out to be Accessible, though the CM insisted it was NOT a request by the other guest but just what they had been assigned. We did end up accepting it, because it DID have the tub as well as the roll-in shower.

What was interesting is that the roll-in shower at Jambo did get water ALL over the floor. The shower at OKW did not. It seems like the drain design was better at OKW?

There is a tiny shelf above the sink (that would probably not be easily accessible to someone in a wheelchair by the way) that could hold two or three small items (like deodorant or a tube of toothpaste) but that's it.

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Sometimes I really wonder about the designers of those rooms. Taking things out to make the space more easily moved around in is good, of course. But don't the people that need the room also need the storage and the towel racks? It makes no sense, and your comment on the shelf *above* the sink goes right along with that.

I've been in restroom stalls with the high HA commodes, but the toilet paper dispenser is at the same height as the other stalls, which can make me feel like I'm about to fall over while reaching so far down for the paper. Added to that that I'm short, and sometimes am only touching the floor on tiptoes with those commodes, it's just dangerous, and I can only imagine it's even MORE so with someone who actually needs that higher commode. I just really question the design and how well it meshes with the actual needs of those being designed for.

One has to ask HOW would a MS CM know the specifics of how rooms are assigned?

When we were given the unwanted, unneeded, desperately inconvenient Accessible room at Jambo Dec '10, we had booked it a full 7 months ahead of time, and I'm pretty sure there were other bookings after ours. The difference is that we had spent nearly all day over at Universal on our checkin day and had not done online checkin (as we had done for the other aspects of our extremely split stay), and we were checking in rather late in the day. It's all they had left.

After dinner when I finally LOOKED at the room and realized there was no tub for my weary and incredibly painful self, and when DH went downstairs to talk about a room change, he was NOT the only one in line for the exact same thing. Our son was 6 at the time and *would* take a shower, but many children that age won't. The tub was TRULY needed for me, or I wasn't going to be able to move that next day. It was late in our stay and the only reason I was still moving was because of the epsom salts baths.

I literally and pathetically cried myself to sleep that night. And we couldn't do anything that next day, while waiting for our non-accessible room, because walking was a big problem for me.

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I don't think date of reservation is considered when assigning rooms.

The fact that you checked in late was probably why you got the HA room. Most likely someone was assigned it earlier and complained, so they switched it with yours.

Though I never think to request a non HA room , we stay in one at the BCV. Thankfully it was only one night so not much of an issue, but I could not get the shower head to move so I could wash my hair and the floor being wet was dangerous.

The only plus side to that room was the balcony. I think it was larger than our studio

As someone who needs a wheelchair, I frequently wonder about accessible designs in many fields, not just hotel rooms. It often seems as if the people designing things to be accessible have no personal experience dealing with it. I guess it's not realistic to have someone in a wheelchair working for every company designing accessible businesses, hotels, or even wheelchairs. It would be nice though. I would love to help some of these companies.

As for the desire to not stay in a roll-in shower room, I am in complete agreement. Disney roll-in showers are the worst I have experienced. I have stayed in many hotel rooms where the water stays in the shower and does not soak the entire floor. I'm not sure why Disney could not have done the same. In many roll-in showers in other hotels there are slight elevation changes or even ridges that help direct the water while remaining accessible. Many designs also use the curtain better than I have noticed during my trips to Disney. Who knows, maybe BLT will be better.

I should have made my most recent reservation without the roll-in shower, but I have never done that before. I guess I was worried about what I might find, so I stuck with what I know even if it's not ideal.

It's just a small part of the vacation though, and I expect we will have a great trip and enjoy every minute of it (why else would I be going).